Change We Can Believe In

One of Obama's big messages was a change in Iraq. According to his website, "Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He ... will have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months." According to his plan, he will provide the best support Iraq needs to fend for itself -- pull out. Seriously, that's what he says. It will not be up to us to finish what we started. It will be up to the United Nations. It is not possible to determine in advance the effect of pulling out suddenly. What will Iraq conclude? What will al Qaeda conclude? What will our allies in the region conclude? I'd have to wonder if America can be trusted, or whether they need be feared. After all, they don't finish what they start.

Barack Obama is on record as aiming at a national health care plan. His plan would make insurance available to everyone. It will be paid for by your premiums, mandatory employer payments, heavier taxation of the rich, and, unavoidably, tax increases for all of us. When up and running, Obama estimates that the program will cost $65 billion a year. Of course, the initial startup costs of such a plan are phenomenal. One key money-saving component, for instance, is the use of electronic medical records. Obama's estimates put the cost of such a program at an initial $80 billion. These costs are over and above the estimated operating costs.

The environment is a big concern for Obama. He considers global climate change "one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation." Al Gore's We Can Solve It.org promises that it will cost us trillions of dollars to fix this problem. And Obama agrees that there is no question -- "Global warming is real, is happening now and is the result of human activities." So he plans to cap emissions. Does that mean that companies have to decrease their emissions? No, not really. They will be given "emission allowances." They can buy or sell these as they desire. The allowances will decrease because the plan is to see an 80% decrease by 2050. Toward that end, he plans to spend $180 billion toward energy technology research. He has another $42 billion earmarked for lead removal. Fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be an expensive trip. (And one has to ask ... "Is this trip really necessary?")

Poverty is of great concern to Obama. He plans to help in a variety of ways. Expect an increase in the minimum wage to $9.50/hour. He plans to pay out $10 billion to encourage states to take children ages "zero to five" out of their homes to educate them. He plans another $10 billion as a foreclosure prevention fund. And he plans to increase jobs. Of course, every president promises to increase jobs. The fact that no president has the ability to do so doesn't seem to phase the voters. He/she promises it, so we listen.

He promises to change how politics is done. He has already demonstrating this by spending over $100 million to get himself to the position of Democratic candidate. Oh, wait, everyone is spending big to get elected. Well, he promises to change politics in Washington. Of course, he's already opted out of keeping the promise on campaign funding. I suppose that means his as well, since thus far it has been politics as usual. He promised to unite the country (while the Democratic party disassembled itself in a battle between Obama and Clinton). He promises to withdraw our troops, raise taxes, increase spending, raise prices. Oh, yeah, this is change. And, frankly, I think I believe it.